Where do you go?

[Ed Miller]

I started to post this as a reply to the 2007 mileage thread in the announcements, then decided it maybe deserved it's own thread.  

Thrang, I figured you would have lots of miles racked up, based on your total on Britta.  (By the way, do you have her on the R65 registry?  Because you would be vying for first place for the highest mileage R65, if I remember right.)

But where the heck are you going?  A 12 mile commute isn't going to put many miles on anything.  I know you go to some rallys anyway, and I supposed touring, but that seems like a lot to a stay-at-home like me.

98% of my miles are just going to and from work.  My commute is a hundred miles a day.  I did make it to the Chief Joseph rally last year, and did a little tour with my brother, and usually go to a few tech days, but I don't really tour.  Not in my car, either.  When I have time off from work I usually stay at home and work on vehicles or thin my forest land.  I'm not complaining, as that's what I like to do.  I'm just curious how other people are racking up the miles they do.

I remember Chris in B.C.'s wife Arlie has way over a hundred thousand miles on her R65, and I think that's mostly going touring, isn't it?  

This might be interesting!
Ed

[Jon_P]

when its warm i ride everywhere! to work, store, family fuctions ( family takes the van i ride) meetings with customers for work, two wheel tuesday meet ups, swap meets & shows. i pretty much start April 1st aans ride straight till Dec. 1 weather permitting (everything but snow and i have been caught sometimes in the snow, that suxs)

that includes all bikes i own, the r65 is my favorite but lets face it its hard to go to the store for a gallon of milk with that one.

[Bob_Roller]

Most of my riding is commuting to work, 11.2 miles each way, and that's urban death cruise commute.

There's the occasional ride in the northern Sonoran desert, but that's usually reserved for the winter season.

My work schedule Friday- Monday, pretty much prohibits my going on rides on weekends and holidays.

Vacation is by seniority, so my being at bottom of the seniority list for my work area, I am relegated to taking my vacation from the middle to end of October through the end of November, not exactly the prime riding season, good for the low deserts of Arizona, but it doesn't take too long to get in sub-freezing temperatures, and I don't like riding in cold weather , that's why I moved to Arizona in the first place !!!!!!

If I can take the bike on common errands I do, but without any saddle bags and such, I'm quite limited in this aspect as well.

I guess this explains the low mileage , even though I can ride all year long .

[SCJJR65]

Ed, I wasn't sure if this thread was intended for me or not, but I noticed you mentioned my bike, "Britta" in the opening thread.  (But I also saw you mentioned "Thrang", our Brit BMW bloke who has "Bimbo" and "Bimbo2".)   You gotta LOVE those nicknames, BTW!  

During the year, I mainly rode back and forth to school two or three days each week for class, a round trip of about 54 miles.  If I had to do any errands during the week before my wife arrived home from work, it meant riding the bike wherever I had to go, since I have no car or truck.  I usually tried to go for a short ride on Saturdays and/or Sundays, maybe 30-50 miles tops, usually on the back roads in Pickens County where I live.

Anyway, now that I'm officially "out of school", perhaps my mileage will increase in 2008, since I will have a little more free time, at least until I have another regular paying gig again.  I'm hoping and praying that my wife's settlement on her wreck is finalized soon, at which time I will find and buy my "dream bike", a 2004 BMW R1200C Montana!  Britta will go into "semi-retirement" at that time.  At 149,000 miles, she deserves it!  

Oh, and yeah, Britta is listed on the R65 REgistry, too!

[Ed Miller]

Ouch!  Sorry John and Thrang (Tony), I managed to get everything mixed up.  I was thinking of Bimbo, with over 400,000 miles if I remember right.  I mean, I'm not sure I've driven that many miles in my whole life, all vehicles combined.  But I was curious about everybody, especially people with high miles on the bikes.

I will be going canoeing in the boundary Waters of north MN (Shh, I may sneak into Canada again!) next October and have been wondering if I dare try riding out there.  It would be late October by the time I get home, and I don't really want to ride through snowy passes.  But it would be cool to ride to Duluth and get fitted for a 'stitch. I'll see.

[mxwinky]

Year-round, rain or shine and do it all on the bike.  Well at least I can get
away with it here in Northern California, sans snow!  My Multistrada has
saddlebags and the matching top box so I can darn near do any of my
shopping and general errands on it, and with the right gear (heated grips!)
I'm seldom cold and always dry.  Even though my daily commute is short,
it all adds up by the end of the year.

As far as other mileage (besides trips with the gf) I find it an incredible
stress reliever to just hit the road and carve the twisties for an hour after
work on most days.  I'm very lucky to have some fantastic roads up here.

The LS has saddlebag mounts on it so I'm hoping the original owner still has
them.  I'm looking forward to piling the miles on it too.  Plus my roommate
has already started bugging me to let her use it for commuting into SF every
day.  Poor bike's never gonna get a rest!  Can't wait!!!

[thrang]

Never having owned a car I go everywhere and anywhere I need to go on my bike year round.  

I think to be able to clock up high millages on the same bike, first of all you need to get a good one, and I was lucky enough to find one in the Bimbo. When I got the her she came with a full BMW dealer service history, and the mechanic at Doug Hacking's in Bolton (Manchester) told me that she was the best r65 he had ever ridden.

Most of the silly miles I racked up on her were done during the mid 90's when I was a Motorcycle Action Group rep. For about six years on top of being a rep I was also working many of the MAG fund raising events along with the Euro Demo's and continental rally's... (Faro, the Elephant oh and the obligatory trundles round the Nurburg Ring when ever I was in Germany)

While I was a rep I averaged over 40k miles a year for six years which makes up more than half the miles she clocked up in the 17 years I ran her as daily transport.

Oh and I also rode her round the Med Sea after I graduated from university while visiting all those places I had read about during my History Degree.

As for the nickname I called her a Bimbo because as a bike she had a definite personality. If she did not keep getting the attention she thought she deserved then really started to become unreliable. Yet an hour or so a week, with a bucket of hot soapy, and spent tightening this and that (she had a habit of vibrating the rear light assembly and eating rear bulbs until I isolated with a bit of chopped up Karrimat)  along with checking the oils and valves and she started every time.

As to why she just kept on running all I can put it down to is being a good one to begin with, using her daily, with regular long distance jaunts but very very rarely thrashing her. Changing the motor oil every, 2 1/2 to 3 thousand miles, (fresh filter every 5k) and doing the transmission twice a year (start and end of winter) and keeping a very close eye out for any wear on the wiring especially around the head stock.

Mechanically I probably had to do a major overhaul of something every couple of years and usually did the clutch at the same time. This is not to say that the bike did not suffer because last time I did the clutch on the bimbo summer 06 she was a bit of a shed and on her last legs, but she still saw the year out...

The only hitch is my wife thinks I love that dammed bike more than her, and sometimes gets the hump about my 'German mistress!'

[mxwinky]

The "Mental Health Loop" is a blast through beautiful wooded backroad twisties
mere moments from my doorstep.  Lucas Valley Road (past George Lucas's Skywalker
Ranch) to the little town of Nicasio, then the options are a long coastal loop to Highway
1 along the Pacific coast, or an inland loop of varying length, all of it epic twisties.

Hey John in SC, how's the riding out there?  My gf and I are planning to retire out
there in about 8 years.  We bought an acre on Lake Greenwood and are going to
start building our house as we get closer to the jumpoff date.  We took a trip out
there last July and fell in love with the place, but I have no idea of the riding scene
there.  What I saw looked pretty good though.  Thanks for any info you can throw
at me.

[thrang]

For me the best ride out I know has to be Tindrum to Skye, stunning scenery. Ranoch Mor, Glen Coe,  Kintail and Elien Donnan Castle (thats the one in Highlander). You're on reasonably quiet roads once you get to the north of the Great Glen and best of all there are no sodding Gatso camera's to ruin your day!

For a quick afternoon out then the Lakeland passes. From my house in Langdale its 70 odd miles of great roads (when there's not to many cart drivers around) taking in Wrynose, Hardknott (good roman fort) & Honister (slate mine) passes followed by a blatt along the A66 (worth a divert to see Castlerigg stone circle)  to the Ulswater junction at Penrith,  then down the side of Ulswater and up over the Kirkstone Pass (good pub at the top) before dropping into Ambleside and back to the house.

[SCJJR65]

Mxwinky, you'll love it!  It's pretty much year round riding here in SC, and where you'll be living near Lake Greenwood, you're only a couple of hours away from the mountains, and a couple of hours or so from the beach!  Lots and lots of twisties and wonderful countryside to explore in the Piedmont where Lake Greenwood sprawls out.  I used to live in Abbeville (only about 10 miles from Lake Greenwood) and I used to have a blast exploring all the back roads in that area!  Like I said, you'll LOVE it!  

Hell, I want to get out to see SF and the bay and ride all the way up the Pacific Coast Highway where YOU live!  8-)

[mxwinky]

John, thanks for the encouraging info.  It will be really hard to leave the riding
paradise that we've got up here, but it's great to hear that it's so good in SC.
Anytime you can make it out here, go for it!  I can put you on a bike and show
you some unbelievable roads and scenery.  You can go slumming around on a
Ducati or use my R65LS if the thought of a non-beemer sends shivers up your
spine.  Thanks again!

mxwinky
a.k.a. Erik

[SCJJR65]

Appreciate it, Erik!  My wife has a brother who lives in Anza, and we may be paying a visit to him this summer!  If we do, I intend to make it up to "the bay" and might just take you up on your kind offer!  

[mxwinky]

John, definitely make the trek if you possibly can.  The riding up here makes
So Cal look like a flat barren wasteland.  Plus my gf is dying to meet more
people from SC and learn more about the area.  She's already kicking me
because I haven't asked you 300 questions about it already.  Your only really
tough decision will be whether to ride the R65LS, the Multistrada S, or the
900SS SP.  If you're a really fast rider I might have to handicap you and put
you on the slower bike so I can keep up!  If you're a wheelie freak I'd
recommend the 'strada.  

[Spinachpie]

Hey all,

I managed to get an hour ride in yesterday in Portland, Maine during the unseasonably high temp of 57 degrees. We've had 4 feet of snow and the back roads are not even advisable for four wheeled vehicles. I hopped on 295 north and got some ya yas out on my 79 r65, then turned around and headed to scarboro, maine for a hot dog at Chicago Dog. Saw a couple bikers cruising around, and got a lot of waves and big grins. The ride started my new year off right and the bike loved it. Started right up after a month of sitting. I hope for another warm day to give the r80 a go. Just thought I'd share that! Cheers.

[SCJJR65]

Shoot, Erik, any of those bikes would be an absolute thrill to ride in your area!  I'd probably have fun on a Vespa 50!  8-)

Just email or PM me if you have any questions you guys want to know about SC.  If I don't know the answer, I'll find out for you!